New Guidelines Propose Change in Science Education

Changes could be on the way for science classes across the nation with the release of the Next Generation Science Standards.

A recent New York Times article, disclosed the first broad recommendations for science education in the United States since 1996, the Next Generation Science Standards. The NGSS suggest education on climate change starts as early as middle school and also recommends evolution as a standard topic to be covered. While not required to adopt the regulations, 26 states have already committed to putting the consortium-bred recommendations into place.

The purpose of the education overhaul is to “combat widespread scientific ignorance” and to standardize curriculum across the country. The pending reform also hopes to increase the number of college students who will major in scientific fields to help secure the nation’s economic future. According to the article”

The focus would be helping students become more intelligent science consumers by learning how scientific work is done: how ideas are developed and tested, what counts as strong or weak evidence, and how insights from many disciplines fit together into a coherent picture of the world.

However, the recommendations have not gone unnoticed by religious conservatives who, consistent with expectation, claim the regulations promote secular humanism and “take away the right of parents to direct the religious education of their children.”

About Diana Palka

Diana is a writer, runner, lover of words and life-long learner. She graduated with a Bachelor's degree in News-Editorial Journalism from Gardner-Webb University and since entering the proverbial "real world," has been challenged (slash forced) to learn what does and doesn't work when communicating honest messages. Currently, she works with a Benefit Consulting firm just outside New York City where she heads up the creation of employee communications and client deliverables for her team. Diana has a passion for a brave vulnerability that reveals the ugliest of impurities in the light of a perfecting grace.